Can Cats Help People Suffering from PTSD?

The world can seem like an endlessly dangerous place for people suffering from PTSD. Recently, I had the privilege of traveling with the Bayer Pet Influencer Group to Jacksonville, Florida where we were able to tour the K9s For Warriors facility. This organization uses dogs to help veterans with PTSD to live normal lives again. They do wonderful work! It made me wonder – could cats help people with PTSD too?

What is PTSD?

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is a mental health condition caused by experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event. Most often, PTSD is associated veterans of the armed forces, but it can be experienced by anyone. Sexual and physical assault, experiencing natural disasters, childhood abuse, serious accidents, and witnessing violence against someone else are all common causes of PTSD. Both children and adults can suffer from PTSD.

Manna giving me a hug.

Sufferers experience PTSD differently. The symptoms can be mild, moderate or severe. They can begin immediately after the traumatic event or years later. A few symptoms are:

Hyperarousal
A nervous, jittery feeling that something dangerous is about to happen.

Flashbacks
Feeling that you are reliving your traumatic event. This may be experienced in the form of nightmares.

Avoiding Triggers
Avoiding situations or people that remind them of the trauma they’ve been through.

Depression
Feelings of guilt, shame, and general unhappiness. Lack of interest in once pleasurable activities. The world may seem like a dangerous place full of people that can’t be trusted.

Like other mental health conditions, there are 2 main treatments available for people suffering from PTSD: psychotherapy and medication. Symptoms can become less severe or even disappear when these treatments are used properly. Anyone who believes they may have PTSD should contact a local mental health professional for diagnosis and treatment.

K9s For Warriors

The Bayer Pet Influencer Team at K9s For Warriors with Brett Simon, president of K9s For Warriors.

K9s For Warriors is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that trains service dogs for veterans of the US armed forces that are suffering from PTSD. They Can Cats Help People Suffering from PTSD?refer to these veterans as “warriors”. The service dogs are provided to qualified warriors at no cost. The mission of K9s for Warriors is to stop the daily suicides of veterans (there have been 130,000 since the 9/11 terror attacks).

The service dogs trained by K9s for Warriors are chosen from animal rescues throughout the United States. They must meet age, size, and breed requirements in order to be chosen for the program. Training can last anywhere from 3 – 6 months. During the last 3 weeks of a dog’s training, the warriors are brought in, paired with the dogs, and they are given special training together at the K9s for Warriors facility in Florida. The dogs have to learn to provide whatever services may be necessary for their particular warrior.

What About Service Cats?

Dexter giving me a hug before I left for Florida with the Bayer Pet Influencer Group.

In the United States, the law governing the use of service animals is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). ADA gives people with service animals the right to bring their service animal into all public buildings (stores, restaurants, office buildings, etc). Service animals are also allowed to accompany the person they are serving on airplanes and other forms of public transportation. It is important to note that the ADA views service animals as medical equipment rather than as pets.

Unfortunately for cat lovers, the ADA defines “service animals” specifically as dogs and miniature horses. Why not include cats? In the case of some disabilities, cats are not large enough to provide the physical support necessary. For example, a cat could not support the whole of an adult human’s weight to save them from falling or help them up from a chair. There are also those that believe that cats could not be trained to reliably assist a person with disabilities. Very few studies have been done that can show a cat’s ability to help care for a disabled person.

Hope for Cat Lovers with PTSD

Some of the beautiful landscaping at K9s For Warriors.

If you are a cat lover suffering from PTSD (or any other disability) don’t let the current ADA restrictions on service animals make you feel defeated. Cats are still permitted to be companion animals, emotional support animals (speak to your mental health provider about this), and therapy animals.

One of the K9s For Warriors dog trainers showed us some of the things the service dogs are trained to do for the warriors.

Despite their critics, cats can be trained to do a lot of amazing things – including help you with your PTSD symptoms. It is all a matter of your cat’s personality and your willingness to train them (or get the help you need to train them). There are plenty of stories from PTSD sufferers who feel that their cats help them (click here, here, or here to read a few). Cats can be very sensitive to emotional changes in their favorite humans.

There is no reason why you can’t train your cat to help you in your home or in public places where they are lawfully permitted to be. The number of pet-friendly businesses across the US is growing. In many cases, individual business owners and management make the final decision about whether or not a cat would be permitted to accompany you onto their property. Never be afraid to ask for permission!

Important note:Make sure that your cat is actually trained to accompany you in public places. One of the reasons business owners are timid about allowing pets is because they’ve seen unruly, disruptive pets. They don’t want their place of business torn apart or other customers harrassed! The more that they see that cats are polite guests, the more welcoming they will be.

You can take action and prove that cats should be added to the ADA’s definition of service animal. Communicate with professors at your local universities. Let them know how important you think it is to do studies on the training of cats as service animals. Write to the big pet-related companies and ask them to invest in these studies. Pool together with other cat lovers and organizations to get the research started. Getting the law changed to admit cats will be much easier when there is sturdy proof that shows cats can do the job.

hi linda again I posted my story on your facebook page along with a few pictures
of my esa cats ptsd is horrid to deal with I take it one day at a time I thank god for my cats like I always say dogs are great love them to but I am the crazy cay lady keep up the great blog and give dexter and manna a kiss for me they are so beautiful

I was recently diagnosed with PTSD-“Complex trauma”. My symptoms are not nearly as severe as many of those suffering from PTSD and, for the most part, don’t keep me from living my life. For years prior to this diagnosis, I have battled depression and anxiety. My cats have been a huge emotional support to me over the years. In fact, there were times when the only reason I got out of bed was to take care of my cats; we all know how hard it is to ignore a hungry cat walking across your face. It is true that cats are not physically capable of supporting the weight of a human body. However not *all* people with PTSD will need an animal who can support them physically. Sometimes all you need is a friendly companion or the touch of another living being to bring you back out of your mind and ground you again.

I agree. I think even cats should be considered as support animals for people with PTSD. As Katie has proven, cats can be just as supportive as dogs, for people who have any type of mental disability. Actually any animal who has a calming effect on anyone should be considered a support animal. It has been proven that close contact with animals can lower your blood pressure and make you feel calm. Not to mention, people who have pets, and share a close bond with their pets, live longer than people who don’t have pets. This was a good article. Thanks for posting.

There are LOTS of things cats can do for PTSD sufferers that go far beyond the description of ESAs. They need advocates to help them become acknowledged as service animals for many PTSD sufferers. The prejudice must end.

We love seeing both cats and dogs help our military vets! So jealous that you got to visit K9s For Warriors! We’re currently hosting a Merrick giveaway of the Hero’s Banquet food that helps to support them!

It’s a shame that cat aren’t recognized as service animals. Their awareness of human emotions and ability to respond to the people who need them the most is well documented in stories of cats in nursing homes who always cuddle up to the patients with the most serious illnesses or those who will be passing away soon. If these cats can help usher people into the next world, why can’t they support them in this world?

This is a great post, Robin. As a mental health professional and an animal lover, I truly believe in the healing powers of animals. I would love to see cats become more accepted as service animals. I think they’re misunderstood and with education, this could happen.

Hi Miss Robin. What a great post! Mom & Dad have two friends that are veterans. Each has a kitty and I would bet all my nip (& there is a lot) that they have helped their owners in dealing with PTSD. We kitties are so in tune to our humans and our environment. I purr-sonally think my doggie minion has a bit of PTSD from her earlier years before she came to us, ’cause when she sees a broom or the vacuum she gets really anxious & worried. I like to think that I’m a calming force in her life. Mew Mew!

What a wonderful organization! So glad you got to go on the trip! I know you all had a wonderful time. It’s great that you are giving information about how cats can be helpful too. I didn’t know that cats weren’t recognized as service animals. Maybe this will be changed soon!

I love K9s for Warriors and the fact that they transform the lives of rescue dogs and Warriors with PTSD. There are a few symptoms of PTSD that a larger dog is better suited for, like bracing, blocking out in crowds or the supermarket or checking the perimeter. However there is no doubt that both cats and dogs can be highly effective in dealing with other symptoms like reducing stress, improving mood and grounding with safe physical contact and comfort.

It’s a shame cats aren’t included in the PTSD program however based on the size issue I see why. However, all animals provide mental/emotional support and comfort regardless of size. I have heard of cats saving lives before. I’ve seen video of a cat saving a toddler from a rabid dog and also heard of cats saving lives of people suffering from medical episodes and dialing 911 (one touch button). Like you mentioned both cats and dogs make for great companion animals at the very least.

This is such a great post Robin, I love the cat side of things of course! I think cats are great emotional healers not too sure about “service cats” though. But with the right person and the right cat anything can happen! Sandra and Dolly